Another Beautiful Week in Taveuni!
Ni sa bula vinaka!
Drinking from a coconut |
Well it's been another great week down here on the great
island of Taveuni. Good news: I am halfway done with my training!
Only 6 more weeks of an extra hour of study haha. And hopefully I will be
able to understand what everyone is saying by that time as well;)
Man, I
love it down here. It is so beautiful, and all the people here are the
nicest ever. Sure, they have their faults as well, but nothing a little
sit down with the Eldas can't fix! Haha I am just way excited about this
area. We had so many less-actives come to church yesterday I was just way
happy.
And we finally got T____ (His real name is S______) to come to
church. He limped his way in with his oddly shaped legs, but it was way
good! N_____ is having his interview on Thursday because it got postponed, but hopefully
everything will go well. It's way frustrating with how long it is taking,
but I guess everything will work out in the end.
The sisters had two baptisms on Saturday which was awesome. A lady in her 20s and a 10 year old boy whose mom just got baptized. Elder Hosea was able to baptize both of them, and then I confirmed the lady while he confirmed the boy in church yesterday. We tried to get the branch president to do it haha, but he just got way uncomfortable and pointed at us haha.
But it was a great
weekend. Especially because there was a big service project at the
hospital here in Taveuni this week. We got all the missionaries in
Taveuni to go, and we worked with a bunch of other people to get it cleaned up
on the outside and such. It was way good.
Service Project at the Hospital |
The view from the hospital we did service at towards the
little island by Taveuni and towards Vanua Levu
|
Today I want to share a few of the different things about
Fiji before I get too used to them (and stop laughing at them).
1. Everyone invites you to eat...all the time. Total
strangers will shout as we walk by "come eat lunch" or "come eat
dinner." It's just a way of greeting people I guess haha. When
we go sit and teach a lesson, they do it as well. Rule #1, always
decline. If they really want to feed you, they will no matter what you
say haha. One time that happened at 4 different houses and I thought I
was going to throw up I ate so much.
2. They usually give you a hot drink when they feed
you. This is slightly ridiculous, seeing as we are already dying from the
heat and the walk. But they always make this lemon-leaf tea (basically
boiling a lemon-leaf in water with sugar). It's way good, just way too
hot for the current climate.
3. Fijians are way funny about the rain! They believe
that they'll get sick if the rain falls on their head, so they always are
hiding under a shed while they watch us walk by, getting soaked. If they
have to they'll use anything to keep their head dry: a shirt, their hands, even
a kitchen plate every once in a while.
4. Uh-huh means no, and uh-uh means yes. Waaaay
confusing.
5. If they don't understand you or don't hear what you said, to
say "what?" they go "eh?" like a stereotypical old lady at
a nursing home.
6. They are way good at talking from long distances. I
swear they can read lips, and they have their own little form of sign
language. It is way funny to see it haha!
7. They don't slow down or move over if you're on the road,
so it's all up to the pedestrian to jump out of the way!
8. Breakfast Crackers. It's like the only cracker you
can buy here. Just a square, plain cracker. Fijians buy them like
crazy! They are everywhere. You can literally buy a big bucket
chuck full of breakfast crackers.
9. Afros. Every Fijian marama (old lady) has a sick
afro. Perfectly fluffed and round. It's way funny to see a bunch of
them together. Especially on the bus when its way bumpy and all their
afros move back and forth to the bumps like a bunch of bobble-heads!
10. This is the best of all! They treat missionaries
way good in their culture. Ministers/missionaries are up at the top of the
social ranks. We always sit up at the head of the table, or in the front
of a celebration or such. One time, we were at a big dinner and we were
sitting right next to the Methodist minister and the head of the family.
Except I didn't know that he was the minister at the time. Well
apparently he was arguing with the head of the household trying to get us to
say the prayer because he didn't want to (I learned this afterward from my
companion). They ended up asking me to pray and I gave my usual simple
prayer haha. I had no clue what was going on haha! But we try to
downplay this bit of culture most of the time so people will know that we
aren't any better than them.
Hopefully that sheds a little
bit of light on what it is like down here. Thanks for all you do, I love
you all!
Loloma levu,
Elda Harris
Elder Hosea and Koli
Up by Tui Cakau's house. It's where our Investigator
lives and keeps
care of this high up government official's house and
estate.
|
No comments:
Post a Comment